Three Doors
by Pinsel
Summary: "It's Commander McGarrett for you", his response was clear and unequivocal. She could see no emotion in his face.


_A big thank you to cokie316 for her input and corrections! You're the best!_

 **Three Doors**

 _All it takes is faith and trust_

 _(Peter Pan)_

Steve was standing in his kitchen, sweating from his early morning run and swallowing the last gulp of his water bottle. He looked at the clock hanging above his kitchen counter and decided there was time for a short swim in the ocean before work. He was pulling his shirt over his head when he heard a knock on his front door. Frowning he looked down at Eddie, who was – after finishing a whole bowl of water - patiently sitting beside him, waiting for his breakfast kibble.

"Who do you think that is, Edward?" Steve asked his Labrador, who answered with wagging his tail, earning himself a head scratch.

Opening the door, Steve was surprised to see Officer Lukela and another HPD Officer that he had only met once. Keo was Tani's former training officer at the academy, and he was the reason she had been thrown out. So of course Steve had spoken to him before proposing Tani a job offer with Five-0. In their conversation, Keo had confessed that he was also partly to blame for the mess and maybe he had it coming when Tani punched him.

"Duke," he smiled and offered the older man his hand, "Nice to see you. Come in."

He stepped aside to allow both men walk into his living room.

"Steve, this is Captain Keo," Duke began. "He is with - ."

"Yeah, we know each other", Steve interrupted while shaking Captain Keo's hand. "What's going on, Duke?"

"Hope you have some time."

Steve nodded and pointed to his chairs. "Have a seat."

Duke sighed and looked Steve straight in the eye. "Well Steve, a few days ago HPD received an anonymous call advising us to search Adam Noshimuri's house for the murder weapon of his sister."

"What?" Steve looked at him in shock.

Duke raised his hand in a calming manner. "Wait, we didn't found anything in his house."

"So where's the problem?" asked Steve confused.

Captain Keo bit his lip, stood up and ran a hand through his hair. "The problem is... I read Officer Lukela's report on this incident. And now, now I can no longer be quiet about what, well what happened several weeks ago." Steve just looked at him impatiently and Keo continued. "Tani Rey came to me..."

"Officer Rey came to you? To you of all people?" Steve raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Captain Keo lowered his head before hearing a low and dangerous "Sit!" coming from Steve.

He did as he was told immediately; he knew enough about McGarrett to know not to mess with him. Coming here and talking about the mess he had gotten himself into was hard enough.

"Tani came to me asking me to run ballistics on a weapon she had found in Adam Noshimuri's house when she was checking it."

Steve sat there calmly, leaning back on his couch showing no reaction.

"Ballistics discovered it was the murder weapon of Noriko Noshimuri." Captain Keo let out a breath and forced himself to look McGarrett in the eye.

He saw a small smile on Commander McGarrett's lips. "Thanks for coming," he said quietly. "I appreciate that. But don't worry, we are trying to find the person who shot Noriko Noshimuri with this gun and who planted it in Mr. Noshimuri's home." He stood up and walked to his front door. "Thank you again for letting me know that it was you Officer Rey came to. She didn't tell. She didn't mention who she spoke with." He again forced a smile.

Steve opened his door and let the two officers out. "Thanks for coming, Duke." He shook hands with his friend who looked at him knowingly.

* * *

After closing the door Steve sighed and turned around, leaning on the door. Eddie looked at him in confusion, sensing his friend's unease. "Come on, Boy," Steve motioned while heading upstairs to take a shower and change clothes. Dressed for work some time later, he stood in front of his mirror and said again, "She didn't tell. She didn't tell anything."

Adam placed his new badge onto his belt and heard a knock on his front door. He opened it and saw McGarrett standing in front of him. "Hey, Steve, I was just heading out."

"May I come in?" There was no smile on Steve's face and the tone of his voice was indifferent.

"Of course. Come in. Want a coffee?"

"No. No, I don't want a coffee."

"So what's going on? Why are you here, Steve? We would have seen each other anyway at HQ."

"Don't know about that," Steve answered. Silently he looked around before beginning. "I've got one question, Adam. Just one. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

Adam watched him in shock. He knew exactly what Steve was referring to. Night after night he had lain wide awake thinking about if and how he should tell Steve about that weapon.

"Look, Steve, I just didn't know... I didn't want to bother you." When Steve made no reply to his words, he added, "Maybe I didn't want to accept any help."

"But you weren't shy about accepting that badge, right?"

"I'm sorry, Steve. Really really sorry. Look, now, let us just work together, okay? Let's have a look into who ever planted this gun in my house?"

Steve shook his head no. "No, Adam. WE won't work together." He stretched out his hand. "Your badge!"

"What Steve, no, come on man."

"Your badge!" The words were spoken hard and free of emotion.

Adam fumbled on his belt, took off the 5-0 badge and put it in Steve's hand. He knew he had lost.

More than a job. He had lost a friend.

Tani Rey put her empty coffee cup into the sink and heard a knock on her front door. Surprised, she went to open it, even more surprised to see her boss standing outside.

"Steve, come in. What's going on? An early morning case? You could have called." She closed the door behind McGarrett and offered him a seat.

"No thank you, Officer Rey." His face was expressionless.

"Officer? What's this about? No longer Tani?" She smiled and looked at him bewildered. "Steve, you're confusing me here."

"It's Commander McGarrett for you", his response was clear and unequivocal. She could see no emotion in his face. "Did you like working in the water park, Officer Rey?"

"No...", she had no idea what this was all about; she had never seen this McGarrett who was standing in front of her and it scared her.

"So you were happy working for 5-0?"

"Of course. I always wanted to -"

"You were happy working for me?"

That question left her speechless for a moment. There was no doubt that she had heard about the famous Steve McGarrett before he had offered her a job on his task force. And there was no doubt that she was extremely proud that he had considered her worthy of being a member of his elite task force. But over time, she had seen way more than the badass, tough as nails Navy SEAL. She saw an highly intelligent man, one with a great analytical mind, a good head on his shoulders and a heart in the right place.

"I've become even more happy about it after getting to know you more and more", she admitted.

"Oh, is that so?" Steve raised an eyebrow. "Well, then you've been real good at hiding that."

A flicker of annoyance crossed Tani's face. "Oh, come on. That was always all in good fun. Don't be so sensitive about it, St-", she saw him narrowing his eyes, "Commander."

"I'm pretty sensitive when it comes to working in a team, Officer. And I am pretty sensitive when I learn about a member of a team betraying her other team members. Betraying her superior. Going behind their backs for weeks. Well, then, the two of us are having a big, big problem."

Tani's face went pale; she finally knew exactly what this was all about. Junior Reigns' words came to her mind, "You're destroying your relationship with McGarrett." She closed her eyes, praying that it wouldn't be... that it couldn't be. She had to explain it. "Adam saved my brother, Steve... Commander McGarrett. I couldn't turn him in. I had to help him. I had to."

"Of course you had to," Steve agreed. "I would have done the same. Okay, go on."

"Go on with what?"

Steve took a step towards Tani, bent down so he could look her directly in the eyes. "Go on with your explanation. I'm waiting for the part where you explain why you didn't come to me."

"To you? I couldn't come to you. I didn't know... I didn't know what you... I didn't want Adam to get arrested."

Steve stood tall and stretched out his hand. "Your badge!"

Tani starred at him, completely shocked. "My... What? My badge?"

Steve continued to look at her firmly. "Badge. Now."

With trembling hands Tani pulled off her badge and gave it to Steve. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "What should I do now?"

"You're good friends with Captain Keo now, as I've heard. Maybe go back to the academy."

He put her badge into his pants pockets and turned to open her front door. Looking back at her he said: "Trust, Tani. That's what it's all about. You did not trust me. Working in a team is all about trust. We don't survive without it. I've served in a lot of elite units and know if you don't trust you don't belong there."

He stepped outside, then turned back to her. "Go back to the academy. You need to learn a thing or two before you're ready for something like Five-0. I'm upset that you didn't trust me. And I am even more upset that I can no longer believe you."

Steve got into his truck and drove to headquarters with a heavy heart. Maybe broken trust could be fixed like a broken mirror.

But you would always see the crack.

PAU

 _A/N: I know that some think there is no problem with these two. But I don't think so. They are betraying the team, they are betraying McGarrett. Especially Tani does it for weeks now and I think that is unacceptable for a member of an Elite Task Force, heck, it's unacceptable in every team. And it shows pretty clear that she has no idea who Steve McGarrett really is, the way he ticks. How important loyalty is for him and how far he would go to safe a friend. Yet she is running around being all cocky and smug, even going so far being offensive and rude. Not only towards her friend Steve but towards her BOSS!_

 _Hopefully show fixes this soon and Steve has to say a thing or two!_


End file.
